Facility tours are a fixture on the agenda for the annual WEFTEC conference. This time, visitors will see a variety of facilities in and around New Orleans and in some cases benefit from lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina. The tours will visit five wastewater-related facilities.
On a tour of the collection system of the St. Bernard Parish Water & Sewer Division, visitors will observe changes made to sewers, pumping stations and treatment plants since Katrina. Parish repsentatives will discuss the realities the utility faces today, having gone from 26,000 customers to half as many after the storm.
Visitors will also tour the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board's Pump Station #6, the largest of 22 drainage pump stations in the citt and the largest pumping facility of its kind in the world. It houses 15 pumps that can move more than 6 billion gallons of water in 24 hours. The station has been designated a National Mechanical Engineering Historical Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Also on the agenda are:
* The Jefferson Parish Elmwood Drainage Pump Station, one of more than 20 such stations that keep the parish dry (it is below sea level).
* The City of Mandeville Public Works Department and its innovative biological wastewater treatment plant and wetland assimilation process, which help preserve the surrounding ecosystem.
* The Jefferson Parishs East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant, a 33 mgd activated sludge facility serving a population of 225,000.
Find out about the tour schedule, costs, and other information at www.weftec.org. WEFTEC 2010 runs Oct. 2-6 in New Orleans.
